A Study On Modern Chinese Passive Constructions

It is an unavoidable topic to discuss the categorical status of the word "bei" when one investigates the passive constructions in Mandarin Chinese.Huang Borong & Liao Xudong(黄伯荣,廖序东,1978),LüShuxiang(吕叔湘,1980)etc.analyze the word "bei" as a preposition; Hashimoto Mantaro(桥本万太郎,1968,1987),Chauncey C.Chu(屈承熹,1973),Feng Shengli(冯胜利,1997),Ting Jen(丁仁,1995),S.-W. Tang(邓思颖,2003)etc.analyze the word "bei" as a verb;Tang Tingchi (汤廷池,1972)analyzes the word "bei" as an auxiliary verb;James Huang(黄正德,1999),Wu Gengtang(吴庚堂,1999),Xiong Zhongru (熊仲儒,2003)etc.analyze "bei" as a light verb;and Shi Dingxu & Hu Jianhua(石定栩,胡建华,2005)analyze the word "bei" as the combination of a preposition and a passive mark.After comparing the advantages and disadvantages of the aforementioned opinions,we put forward another method,that is,to analyze the word "bei" as a functional word with the feature of[+Passive,+Topic].As the head word of a structure similar to Chinese topical structure,"bei" takes an IP or a TP as its complement.Before exploring the generation of passive constructions,we distinguish two concepts such as PASSIVIZATION OF VERBS and PASSIVIZED CONSTRUCTIONS,investigate the interrelationship between Chinese long passive constructions and short passive constructions,and generalize the rules of the deletion of the agent in short passive constructions.Passivization is a process of word formation.Its main function is to debase a verb's exterior argument and absorb that verb's ability to assign accusative case.English passive forms are derived through passivization of the main verbs.However,passive construction is a particular sentence pattern compared to active construction.One of the key distinctions between these two constructions is that the subjective NP in the active construction is the performer of an action related to the main verb,while the subjective NP in the passive construction is the sufferer of an action related to the main verb.Passivization is an important but not the unique way to generate a passive construction.We consider that passive construction in Chinese is not generated through the method of passivization,it is a special kind of topical structure.Chinese short passive forms are derived from the long ones just by deleting the agent NPs,if only the deletion concerned obeys the relevant rules.In the spirit of the MOVEMENT and FEATURE CHECKING THEORY,the thesis investigates the generating processes and the properties of Chinese passive constructions and consider that Chinese passive constructions and topical constructions share similar generating mechanism and properties.They are both generated through the method of topicalization and the sentence initial positions of these two constrtuctions are topical positions.In our opinion,topicalization means that an NP directly moves from a gap position to the topic[Spec TopicP] position.In order to check off the strong nominal feature of the topical NP and give the empty head noun a suitable interpretation either through a chain which satisfies the Minimal Link Condition or through predication under adjacency,the related movement should obey the Complex NP Condition,Subjacency Condition,Island Sensitivity and the Condition on the Identification of Empty Nominal Elements,etc. Furthermore,we claim that Chinese passive constructions are one special kind of topical constructions.Syntactically,they are similar;and semantically,they are complementary.